Indiscriminate airstrikes” by Israel were responsible for the majority of civilian casualties during the summer 2006 Lebanon conflict , according to a 249-page report issued Thursday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . HRW investigated about 500 of the reported 900 civilian deaths. Its report specifically refutes Israeli assertions that civilian casualties were due to Hezbollah forces using human shields. HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth said that Israel did not abide by its legal duty to distinguish between military and civilian targets and issued insufficient evacuation warnings.

Last month in another report, HRW condemned Hezbollah for recklessly and sometimes intentionally firing rockets at Israeli civilian targets during the brief struggle, which essentially ended in a standoff.